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With finals wrapping up and winter break just around the corner, many of the student employees at the coffee shop had left for home already. The days were shorter and the business was slower with there being little people on campus to serve. Reki only lived across town, so when his manager gave him the opportunity to close up shop one night to cover for the usual closer who had left for vacation already, he said yes without hesitation.
When the day actually came, however, Reki was bored out of his mind.
The soft music playing over the speakers was the only noise he had heard in the last half hour, and he still had another two hours before he was allowed to lock up. He sighed, twirling around a dish rag as he paced back and forth behind the bar. He wiped down the same spot on the counter too many times for him to count, threw the rag into the sink like a basketball, and picked it up again a few minutes later when he got tired of staring at the front door, hoping someone would walk in. He slung the rag over his shoulder as he leaned against the bar in front of him, resting all of his weight on his elbows and rocking back and forth on his heels. When he got bored of looking at the art hung on the wall he decided that he should make his drink for the day so that he could have something to clean afterwards.
He pulled the shots, and as he was steaming the milk, he heard the sweet, sweet sound of the bells jingling above the front door.
He looked over his shoulder to see none other than his boyfriend, his cheeks rosy from the cool air outside. The bag he had slung over his shoulder almost fell as he pulled down the beanie that had almost blown off of his head when he opened the door. He was as beautiful as ever and it made Reki feel hot all over. He didn’t think he would ever get used to the way Langa made his heart race by simply existing, how something as mundane as fixing his clothes gave him the warm and fuzzies.
The steam rising in his face reminded Reki that he was in the middle of making a drink, and he should probably finish that before ogling at Langa.
“Has it been like this all day?” Langa asked as he looked around the empty tables around him before coming to the register.
“Apparently it was kinda busy this morning, but it’s been pretty much like this since I’ve been here,” Reki explained as he topped his drink with whipped cream.
Langa rested his forearms on the countertop in front of where Reki worked, watching as he tried to make the perfect whipped cream spiral, using a finger to scoop off the tops that weren’t good enough and flicking them into an empty cup nearby so the topping wouldn’t go to waste.
Langa cocked his head to the side as he eyed the cup of whipped cream that was getting fuller by the minute, “What are you planning to do with all of that?” he asked out of genuine curiosity.
“I’ll probably eat it later,” he said without breaking his concentration from his drink, “Unless you want it.” he finished as he discarded another top that had gone lopsided into the cup.
“Not when your fingers have been all over it,” Langa gasped, feigning disgust.
“My tongue has literally been down your throat before and you’re worried about eating whipped cream that I touched?” Reki questioned, with a smirk, amusement clear in his tone.
Langa’s face turned bright red, causing the barista to burst into laughter. He was so easy to fluster, and it was just about the cutest thing in the entire world as far as Reki was concerned.
“Is it okay for you to be wasting all of that?” Langa asked, clearing his throat in an attempt to regain his composure and to get the conversation back on track.
“Usually not, but this thing is pretty full and I have to throw away the leftovers at the end of the day, so might as well use some of it…” he explained as he finished up the best looking whipped cream spiral yet, a sense of pride filling his chest as he admired his creation.
“Beautiful,” Langa smiled at Reki as he watched his face light up.
“You’re not even looking at the drink, Langa,” he complained despite the heat rising up to his face.
Langa glanced down at Reki’s creation, leaning to each side to examine the whipped cream swirl from different angles, “It’s beautiful too.” he concluded as he stood up straight again.
“You trying to butter me up for a free drink or something?” Reki teased as he tried to mask just how much Langa had flustered him. He took a swig of his own drink, eyes widening as the hot liquid burned his tongue. He pulled the cup away from his mouth, letting his tongue hang out to let the air hit it.
Langa snorted at the display, covering his mouth with his hands as Reki glared at him.
He set his cup back down on the bar before leaning over the edge next to where Langa was leaning against it, “That hurt a lot, y’know.” He pouted.
Putting all of his weight onto one of his arms, Langa lifted his free hand to move Reki’s head enough to catch his lips for a quick kiss. “Better?” he asked, his face only inches away from the other’s.
Reki simply nodded, too rattled to make any words come out of his mouth. The kiss was over before he really had the chance to process that it had even happened, and yet, it was enough to take his breath away.
“Can you make me whatever you're drinking?” Langa asked as he backed away, not seeming to notice Reki’s current state, “It tastes good.”
Reki took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he tried to regain his composure, “You’re really something else, y’know.” he said as he exhaled, letting a small chuckle escape towards the end of his sentence. He grabbed an empty cup to start the drink, turning his back before Langa had the chance to reply.
Langa only hummed in response, a small smile creeping onto his face as he watched Reki work. Remembering the bag still hanging from his shoulder, he quickly made his way to the corner table and slung it at the foot of one of the chairs.
He turned to make his way back to the bar to get his drink that was likely close to being finished, but was stopped by Reki saying, “Stay. I’ll bring it to you.”
Langa stayed standing, pulling out the chair on the opposite side of the table as Reki came over with the drink, gesturing for the barista to sit.
“I’m not really supposed to sit while on the clock, but -” Reki said as he took the seat being offered to him. He slid the drink over the Langa’s end of the table just as he was taking his own seat.
“When have you ever followed that rule?” Langa interrupted as he pulled a notebook and a pen from his bag, placing them on the table in front of him before picking up his cup to warm his hands.
“I was gonna to say, ‘but I can make an exception for you’, but you didn’t let me finish.” Reki whined as threw his arms across the table, jostling it just enough for the pen to roll off of it and onto the ground. Langa stifled the giggle that was bubbling in his chest at the look of terror that flashed across his boyfriend’s face as the pen clattered to the ground.
Reki jolted up, scrambling to grab it before it rolled too far. Once he had retrieved it, he walked back to the table, clicking the pen as he walked. He plopped back down into his seat and reached for the notebook that sat in front of Langa. He flipped through the pages, glossing over the seemingly endless amounts of writing.
“There are zero doodles in here, Langa.” he playfully scolded, sighing as he continued to flip through the notes.
“Well, no,” he explained, setting his coffee cup down on the table and leaning back in his seat, “it’s for notes.”
Reki stopped midway through flipping a page, looking up at Langa and blinking slowly, “You’ve never drawn anything at the tops of your papers when you’re bored in class? Nothing in the margins?”
“Not really,” Langa said in a small voice, sinking further down into his seat. “I’m more of a daydreamer than a drawer. Plus, I’m not exactly artistically inclined...”
“You don’t have to be to make a doodle.” Reki said, his face softening and his voice warm with reassurance. He dropped the page he was holding to reach across the table, opening and closing his hand to signal he wanted Langa to hold it. Langa leaned forward enough so that his arm would reach, grabbing Reki’s hand and interlacing their fingers.
“Maybe I could try to make something…” Langa said mostly to himself as he absentmindedly rubbed soft circles into his boyfriend's hand, causing the boy’s heart to flutter. “Gimme the notebook.”
Reki let go of Langa’s hand to pick up the pen, placing it on top of the notebook before sliding it over to the other side of the table. He propped his elbows up onto the table, leaning onto them as he watched his boyfriend roll the pen back and forth across the paper as he thought.
“Got something in mind?” the redhead questioned as Langa stared blankly at the fresh page before him.
Langa broke his gaze from the notebook, looking up to meet Reki’s eyes.
“Well?” Reki questioned, a flush coming onto his cheeks from the way Langa was staring at him. He had such pretty eyes - the most beautiful shade of blue and so vibrant that you can’t help but to notice them whenever you look at him.
Before Langa could answer, the bells above the door rang out. For his entire shift, the barista wanted nothing more than for a customer to come through the door, to hear the bells ring out, but now that it was happening, he wanted nothing more for them to turn around and head right back out. Reki let out a small groan as he reluctantly stood from his seat before turning to greet the customers and make his way back behind the bar where he should have been to begin with.
By the time Reki was done serving the customers, Langa was finished with his drawing, using his hands to cover it so that his boyfriend couldn’t see it yet. The bells rang again, signaling the departure of the group of customers, and with that, Reki was back at the table once more.
“Every single one of them got frappes, dude.” Reki huffed, as he plopped back into him.
“How dare them make you do your job.” Langa teased, his hands still clasped over the paper.
“I can go back behind the counter and do my job some more,” Reki said as he leaned over the table, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“No...” Langa whined, reaching out to grab onto his boyfriend’s forearm to prevent him from moving, revealing part of the drawing that his hand had been covering.
“What did you end up drawing?” Reki asked as Langa retracted his hand.
Langa brought his hand back to fully cover the picture, causing the barista to giggle, “You have to promise not to laugh, okay.”
“It can’t be that bad, love,” Reki reassured, “you should see some of my early stuff. That shit is something to laugh at.”
“No way,” Langa said in disbelief, “if you made it, it’s gotta be good.”
Reki rolled his eyes, feigning annoyance, but in the end, couldn’t help but to crack a soft smile at the compliment. All it took to make him weak was a little bit of praise, which didn’t take very long for Langa to catch on to. “Same goes for you.” he said, his expression turning more serious.
Langa chuckled, a look of shocked amusement in his eyes, “You’re gonna regret saying that.”
“Not. A. Chance,” Reki said matter-of-factly. “Now, let’s see the masterpiece, yeah?” he finished, squirming in his seat as he eagerly waited for Langa to reveal his creation.
“Oh my god…” Langa sighed, closing his eyes as he mustered up the courage to reveal the drawing. He slowly removed his hands from the paper, bringing them to rest in his lap. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes to see Reki’s reaction. He had already brought the notebook closer to him and flipped it around so he could see the picture properly. His expression was unreadable as he leaned down to take a closer look, making Langa more anxious than was likely warranted. He was just showing his boyfriend a little doodle he did in less than ten minutes. That was all. There was really nothing for him to be worried about. Sure, his face was longer than anatomically possible and his hair stood up like it defied gravity and his eyes were two different sizes and his mouth was just a line, but it could be worse. Right?
“Is this,” Reki paused, squinting a little bit as he continued to examine Langa’s drawing, “me?”
“Does it make it better or worse if I say yes?” Langa asked, cringing a little bit in embarrassment. Maybe that was what was making him so nervous. His boyfriend was looking at a very poorly made doodle of his own self.
“Langa…” he trailed off, his voice unexpectedly soft and tender.
“At least you can tell that it’s supposed to be you, right?” Langa chuckled awkwardly as he fiddled with his hands that still lay in his lap.
“Of course I can tell it’s me!” he said excitedly, “you drew the headband in and everything.”
“Yeah…” Langa said shyly, sinking further down into his seat.
“Langa, baby,” Reki giggled as he watched his boyfriend try to hide out of embarrassment, “This is so, so cute. I love it.”
“You’re joking, right?” Langa questioned as he sat up in his seat and propped an arm up onto the table to lean on.
“I am so serious,” Reki said as he took another look at the drawing before meeting Langa’s eyes, “Can I keep it?” he asked, his eyes glittering with anticipation. How could Langa say no to that?
Langa’s eyes widened at the request, disbelief written all over his face before softening, “Yeah, you can. I just don’t see why you would want to, though.”
“Why wouldn’t I want to keep it?” Reki questioned, “You made it, and it’s adorable,”
Reki pushed his chair back so that he could stand up, grabbing the notebook as he headed back toward the coffee bar.
Langa’s gaze followed him as he stood up, not completely registering what was going on until he was leaving the table, “Where are you going?” he asked hurriedly, trying to get the words out before Reki got too far.
“Getting some markers.” he said over his shoulder before he disappeared to the back supply room.
He came back within minutes, still holding the notebook along with a handful of sharpies of various colors. He took his seat, setting the book down on the table along with the pile of markers.
“We can’t lose these, alright? My coworkers will kill me.” Reki warned as he slid the notebook over to Langa.
“Why’d you get them, anyway?” Langa asked, as he rolled the markers around to examine the array of colors.
“So you can color the picture!” Reki beamed. He was way more excited about this than Langa was, but his enthusiasm was infectious, and it brought a smile to Langa’s gut along with those all too familiar butterflies in his stomach. “Only if you want to, though.” he added with a smile.
“What colors do you want?” he asked. How could he not finish the picture when Reki went out of his way to bring markers and was so excited about having it in color? If Reki wanted to keep the drawing, it should look as good as possible (which was still pretty bad but in color), Langa thought.
“Let’s see...” Reki mumbled as he filed through the colors before closing his eyes and picking a few at random. When it felt like he had a good amount of colors in his hand, he opened his eyes and turned his palm face up to reveal the markers he had chosen. “These ones.” he said with a smug look on his face.
Pink, Green, Blue, Yellow, and Red.
“Your hair’s gonna be red, obviously.” Langa announced as he plucked the red marker from Reki’s hand.
“Naturally,” Reki agreed, placing the sharpies down on the table as he watched Langa color in the hair on his drawing.
“A green headband…” he muttered as he grabbed the marker from the table, his brows knit in concentration.
“How festive.” Reki praised as he continued to watch Langa color. It was endearing to watch him be so focused on the task, and Reki wondered if he had looked the same as he worked on the outline of the drawing - so in the zone.
Langa stopped coloring after he had finished the headband, taking a moment to examine his work thus far. His head cocked to the side as he looked to be deep in thought.
“One yellow eye and one pink one?” he said to himself as he rolled the remaining markers back and forth on the table absentmindedly before picking up the pink marker and continuing.
Reki smiled as he watched Langa work, the kind of smile that would’ve made Langa blush all the way down to his bones if he had seen it, the one that gave away just how much Reki adored him, how much he loved him.
“You are so precious, y’know?” Reki said seemingly out of nowhere, causing Langa to stop his coloring mid pen stroke.
“I -” Langa stammered, his body heating up as his cheeks tinted pink, “Where did that come from?” he finally managed to ask, pulling off the beanie from his head because holy shit it was hot in there now.
“You just look really cute when you’re concentrated is all.”
“Oh…” Langa breathed out, “Thank you.” he smiled softly before picking up the last color to finish the picture.
“Mhm.” Reki hummed in response, watching as Langa put the final touches to the drawing. It was messy and a little lopsided and none of the colors matched, but it was so perfect to him, and Reki absolutely loved everything about it.
“Done.” Langa announced, slumping his shoulders down as he watched Reki tear the page out of the book.
“This is going right on my art wall at home,” he said as he held the picture out to get a really good look at it before pushing his chair out so he could stand and carefully fold it and put it into his back pocket so he wouldn’t forget it. He then scooped up the markers and hung them from his apron pocket so he could return them to the backroom.
“Now you’re just flattering me,” Langa whined as he looked up at Reki who was now standing right beside him.
Reki leaned over, bending his knees slightly so that he could capture his boyfriend’s mouth in a kiss.
Langa let out a noise of surprise as he felt lips on his own, the taste and smell of Reki overtaking his senses and clouding his mind.
“That’s my job, lovey,” Reki muttered against Langa’s lips before pulling away and standing up straight, “And I love you and your drawing.”
Neither boy noticed the bells above the door had rung as they were lost in each other, causing them to both jump out of their skin when they heard a voice coming from the register.
“You two are disgusting.” Miya scoffed as he leaned against the counter.
“How long have you even been here?” Reki griped as he made his way back behind the counter.
Miya rolled his eyes as he turned to face Reki behind the bar, “Long enough to be scarred for life.”
“Oh, grow up, you’re about to be in highschool, dude.”
“You’re lucky it was just me and not an actual customer....” he pointed out, ignoring Reki’s retort. “I’m sure Oka would love to hear about you making out with your boyfriend instead of working.”
“You’re blackmailing me, and I really don’t appreciate it,” Reki sighed as he opened the pastry display to grab a muffin out of it. “Here.” he said flatly as he handed the treat to Miya who was wearing the most smug grin on his face.
“I guess I could be willing to forget about it…” Miya said before biting into the muffin.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome you shithead.”
“I’m sorry,” Miya said dramatically, “you’re the one who should be thanking me, ungrateful slime.”
“Thank you for not snitching on us,” Langa interjected as he came up beside Miya, the beanie back on his head and his bag slung over his shoulder.
“This is why I like Langa more than you,” Miya teased as he took another bite of the pastry.
“I’ll remember that next time you come in here begging for a free snack.” Reki said as he stuck his tongue out at the point.
“Oh grow up,” Miya mocked, causing Langa to stifle a giggle in vain and letting out a cough to try and cover it up.
“I’m sick of both of you,” Reki groaned as he moved over to the sink to retrieve the rag he had previously thrown.
“I love you!” Langa singsonged as he followed the barista to the other end of the bar, leaning against it to watch as he cleaned.
Reki smiled to himself upon hearing those words, turning to face Langa after he finished cleaning the area. Langa wore the same, soft smile on his own face, and he looked at him like he was precious - like a work of art. Whether the art is made from oil paint on a canvas or a pen on notebook paper, it’s still something to be treasured.
And there was no denying that Langa treasured Reki. Just like Reki treasured him.